Young Ravens Literary Review: A Biannual Online Literary Journal
  Young Ravens Literary Review
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    • Issue 1 Interviews >
      • Interview with artist Ira Joel Haber
      • Interview with writer S. L. Woodford
      • Interview with poet Dayna Patterson
    • Issue 2 Interviews >
      • Interview with poet Laura Lovic-Lindsay
      • Interview with photographer Michelle Hrvat
      • Interview with author Thalia Spinrad
      • Interview with artist Bobbie Berendson W.
    • Issue 3 Interviews >
      • Interview with author Terri Glass
      • Interview with poet Michael Keshigian
      • Interview with artist Zephren Turner
    • Issue 4 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Anne Whitehouse
      • Interview with Artist W. Jack Savage
      • Interview with Author Krisanne Knudsen
    • Issue 5 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Seth Jani
      • Interview with Artist Fabrice Poussin
      • Interview with Writer Judith Kelly Quaempts
    • Issue 6 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Christine Stoddard
      • Interview with Poet Ricky Ray
      • Interview with Poet Christina Lovin
    • Issue 7 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Max Talley
      • Interview with Poet Ali Hintz
      • Interview with Author Lauren Morrow
    • Issue 8 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Jesse White
      • Interview with Poet Jeff Burt
      • Interview with Author Daanish Jamal
    • Issue 9 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Antoni Ooto
      • Interview with Artist Juan Páez
      • Interview with Writer Meg Freer
  • Issues
    • Issue 1 >
      • Cover Art "Girl with Bouquet"
      • Hearing
      • Tiger Nebula & Barnacles
      • 3 Poems by Dayna Patterson
      • A Fruitful Tale
      • 3 Photographs of Spain
      • Sea Ice & Touch the Sun
      • Toad Hunting
      • Touch of Rainbow
      • Moon over Venice & Fontana di Trevi
      • Longboat Key Beach
      • Seashells & Colored Grove
      • Driving Home from the Bar with Frankie, Winter
      • You are the Vision
      • The Embroidery (Vyshyvanka)
      • Safe, Sound
    • Issue 2 >
      • Cover art by Tommy Ottley
      • Introduction
      • Bobbie Berendson W.
      • Laura Madeline Wiseman
      • Robert A. Kaufman
      • Laura Lovic-Lindsay
      • Rebecca Page
      • Lanette Cadle
      • Michelle Hrvat
      • Heather Monson
      • Maria S. Picone
      • Mary Bast
      • Bridget Gage-Dixon
      • Liz & Elisa Pulido
      • Katherine Simmons
      • Thalia Spinrad
      • Wilda Morris
      • Ruth Foley
      • Brent Danley Jones
      • Sarah Sadie
    • Issue 3 >
      • Cover Art by Zephren Turner
      • Introduction
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Natalie Luehr
      • Fern G. Z. Carr
      • Elizabeth Perdomo
      • Anandi Wilkinson
      • Terri Glass
      • Brendan Walsh
      • Heidi Morrell
      • Marianne Szlyk
      • Rachel Bownik
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Dani Dymond
      • Sylvia Ashby
      • W. Jack Savage
      • Krisanne Hastings Knudsen
      • Dayna Patterson
      • Mary Buchinger
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Nels Hanson
      • Stephen L. Peck
      • Debbie Barr
      • Joanne Esser
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Emily Strauss
    • Issue 4 >
      • Cover art by Kurt Knudsen
      • Introduction: the heart of cyclicity
      • Page Turner
      • Randel McCraw Helms
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Bridget Gage-DIxon
      • Lisa Cook
      • Mary Stike
      • W. Jack Savage
      • Michael Pendragon
      • J. Ellington
      • Mantz Yorke
      • John Grey
      • Carl Boon
      • Lynn Otto
      • Ayendy Bonifacio
      • Yuan Changming
      • Paul Stansbury
      • Ingrid Bruck
      • Helen Patrice
      • Laura Sobbott Ross
      • Krisanne Hastings Knudsen
      • Emily Bilman
      • Kaye Linden
      • Edilson A. Ferreira
      • Jessica Lindsley
      • Michael Keshigian
    • Issue 5 >
      • Introduction
      • Kirchheimer & Piudik
      • Robert Ford
      • Mark A. Fisher
      • Eli T. Mond
      • Dani Dymond
      • Seth Jani
      • Tonya Hamill (Poetry)
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Ed Higgins
      • Thomas Piekarski
      • Don Thompson
      • Marc Carver
      • Carol Smallwood
      • Mackenzie Dwyer
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Banwynn (Suta) Oakshadow
      • Terri Simon
      • Richard Fein
      • Andrew Hubbard
      • Matthew Burns
      • Allison Gish
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Anthony Rubino
      • Tonya Hamill (Art)
      • Jennie Harward
      • Chad M. Horn
      • Shandi Kano
      • Fabrice Poussin
      • Alec Solomita
      • Review
    • Issue 6 >
      • Introduction
      • Christine Stoddard
      • Ahrend Torrey
      • Jenn Powers
      • Felicia Mitchell
      • Brandon Marlon
      • Natalie Luehr
      • Sarah Rehfeldt
      • Terri Glass
      • Christina Lovin
      • Kelly DuMar
      • Joan White
      • Peggy Turnbull
      • Nate Maxson
      • Vivian Wagner
      • Tushar Jain
      • Gordon Kippola
      • Randel McCraw Helms
      • Ashley Park Owens - Art
      • Marianne Peel
      • Lindsey S. Frantz
      • Mark Bonica
      • Ed Krizek
      • Ricky Ray
      • Edilson Ferreira
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Cat Dixon
      • Barbara Brooks
      • William Doreski
      • John Grey
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Maureen Solomon
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Jennifer Liston
      • Shawna Sommerstad
      • Ashley Parker Owens - Poetry
      • Claire Blotter
      • Zev Torres
    • Issue 7 >
      • Introduction Issue 7
      • Max Talley
      • Thomas O'Connell
      • Fabrice Poussin
      • Archita Mittra
      • Ali Hintz
      • Lucía Damacela
      • Steven Sher
      • Cynthia Blank
      • Kathryn Knight Sonntag
      • Holly Day
      • Judy Shepps Battle
      • Allegra Forman
      • Kristen Wood
      • Sarah Rehfeldt
      • Don Thompson
      • Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz
      • Dan Brook
      • Michael Maul
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Lauren Morrow
      • Daginne Aignend
      • Ann Christine Tabaka
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Karen Poppy
      • Matthew Barron
      • Krikor Der Hohannesian
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Natalie Schriefer
      • Bob Carlton
      • Roger Sippl
      • Jake Sheff
      • Dan Brook - NF
      • Jim Zola
      • Kelsey May
      • Mark A. Fisher
      • Meg Freer
      • Chris Connolly
      • DJ Hill
      • Mantz Yorke
      • Mark J. Mitchell
    • Issue 8 >
      • Issue 8 Introduction
      • Jesse White
      • Barbara A. Meier
      • Meg Freer
      • Andrea Wolper
      • Emily Warzeniak - Art
      • Emily Warzeniak - Poetry
      • Parul Gupta
      • Robert Beveridge
      • Chris Stolle
      • Maria Pascualy
      • Daanish Jamal
      • Roberta Senechal de la Roche
      • Wendy Schmidt
      • Kevin Casey
      • Constantin Preda
      • Suzanne S. Rancourt
      • Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Jeff Burt
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Ray Ball
    • Issue 9 >
      • Introduction
      • Juan Paez
      • Antoni Ooto
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Stephen Register
      • Rasma Haidri
      • John Grey
      • Terri Glass
      • Meg Freer - Art
      • Keith Moul
      • Thomas Piekarski
      • Jared Pearce
      • Sunil Sharma
      • Paul Bluestein
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Meg Freer
      • Hugh Cook
      • Marc Carver
      • Mary Buchinger
      • Edilson Ferreira
      • Robert Wexelblatt
      • Don Thomposon
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Steven L. Peck


Singularity

When did love first enter this physical embedding?
 
Which creature first                     felt that mixture of
lust, longing, caring                   that went to the
                    
heart of being?                   Which collection of cells
or protoplasm                            first looked upon its
 
beloved and felt                        its flesh lean toward
and yearn for that                         other who held its
 
gaze? What thing                          first had its breath
stolen as it looked                         upon another and
 
found something                           within so powerful
that all else faded                            away in a passion
 
so inward and                             compelling that love
only describes                        what happened in that
 
fleshy breast (or                       tentacle)? Was it here
on earth? In some                     hominin perhaps? Or
 
in some ancestor of                    elephant or dolphin?
Or in some rat? Or                              parrot or raven?
 
Or was it first found                   in some star far away
from this galaxy                 that we call home? In some
 
slime-pool dweller perhaps     under a different star
shining into their                       skin and out again in
 
expressions of the same       love we know? It is hard to say
but in that moment               in that instant, everything
 
changed and the cold           dark things that tick tick
tick through the cosmos                  to the rhythms of
 
fixed clocks yielded forever to things that slide
gracefully between the spaces of force and fixture



Steven L. Peck is a biology professor at Brigham Young University. His poetry book, Incorrect Astronomy, was published last year by Aldrich Press (with cover blurbs by poet Pattiann Rogers and Utah Poet Laureate Lance Larson). His poetry has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Bellowing Ark, Dialogue, Glyphs III, Irreantum, Pedestal Magazine, Red Rock Review, Tales of the Talisman (Nominated for the Rhysling Award), Victorian Violet Press, and Wilderness Interface Zone. Other creative works include three novels such as his magical realism novel, The Scholar of Moab, published by Torrey House Press—named AML's best novel of 2011 and a Montaigne Medal Finalist—and A Short Stay in Hell. He has published numerous short stories, many reprinted in his collection, Wandering Realities, published by Zarahemla Books. More about his work can be found at http://www.stevenlpeck.com/.  

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